


the ringing from the bells keeps screaming out love

by reachthetree



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bottom Louis, Bottom Nick, Canon Compliant, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Louis's Birthday, M/M, Rimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 11:58:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5496236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reachthetree/pseuds/reachthetree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“You brought mittens for me?” Nick looks surprised.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Yeah, well.” Louis shrugs. “Didn’t know if you were too cool for them, or something.”</i>
</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Louis and Nick spend the days leading up to Christmas in a cottage in Wales being disgustingly in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the ringing from the bells keeps screaming out love

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Morgane, who asked me for tshaw Christmas fluff. It's really grossly sappy, hope you like it (and the smut i threw in heh). <3
> 
> The tag "canon compliant" doesn't mean it's super close to canon (read: I couldn't work the ass tattoo in), but it's canon in the sense that Louis is in 1d and Nick is at Radio 1. Just a little disclaimer.
> 
> Title from 'A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss)' by Glasvegas.
> 
> Enjoy!

The few times Louis and Nick have been in a car together, Louis has graciously let Nick be in charge of the music. This is the first time it’s been Christmas, though, and Louis has regrets.

Nick hides the screen of his phone with his hand and grins as the first notes boom out. Louis groans.

“You’re not seriously playing Justin Bieber’s Christmas album?”

“It’s a modern classic!” Nick’s eyes are fucking twinkling. His crush on Justin Bieber isn’t endearing. It’s not.

“Do you even know how offensive that is? The guy said we hadn’t been touring when we’ve done nothing but for five years!” Louis’ voice is getting high-pitched, and his fingers tense around the wheel. Pig barks in the back seat, and Nick leans back to soothe her before turning back to meet Louis’ eye in the mirror. He looks apologetic and now Louis feels bad. 

“I just thought it’d be fun,” he says, softer. “Sorry.”

His eyes aren’t twinkling with joy anymore and Louis can’t have that. He especially can’t be the cause of that. 

“It’s fine,” he says, one hand letting go of the wheel to put on Nick’s thigh. “Sorry for snapping. A bit stressed.”

Nick puts his hand over Louis’ and Louis hates driving because it means he can’t look at Nick like wants to. 

“Let’s not worry about it,” Nick says, and then he switches the music to another Christmas playlist. Louis lights up when he recognises the first tones of Fairytale of New York.

They’re on their way to a cottage in Wales, where they’ll spend the days leading up to Louis’ birthday. Early on Christmas Day they’ll go on to their respective families. There had been some arguing back and forth about this, seeing as both their parents wanted them to bring the other for Christmas. Louis had been close to crying from the stress, grinding his teeth and threatening to fuck off to a tropical island by himself, when Nick had suggested this. They’re going to be together with Louis’ family in the days between Christmas and New Year’s, and at New Year’s they’ll be in Oldham with Nick’s family. A good compromise, all of Nick’s design. It’s a blessing to have him, really. Louis sneaks a look in the mirror; Nick is all twisted up in the passenger seat to pet Pig.

“Why don’t you just take her in your lap?” Louis smiles. The music has gone on to some indie song Louis doesn’t know, but there’s jingle bells accompanying the wistful singing and gentle guitar, so it’s fine.

“That’s not safe,” Nick admonishes. As if his current position is. Louis shakes his head but he knows his mouth is giving away his fond.

It had already been dusk when they left London, but it’s proper night when they arrive at the cottage. They can’t see much of the surroundings but the first thing that hits Louis when he exits the car is the salty scent of sea. Pig seems happy to be out of the car, wagging her tail and immediately going to the door.

Nick laughs at her, balancing two bags in his arms. “Don’t you want to go for a walk, Piggy?”

She looks up at him and pants. Louis laughs as he gets his own bag from the boot. “What a city dog you got,” he says jokingly. “Can’t stand nature, eh?”

“Oh, shut up,” says Nick, who’s put his bags down on the front steps to find the key.

When they get inside, Pig runs to the kitchen before them. The cottage smells weird to Louis – it’s too clean, like it’s not lived in. Which it maybe isn’t.

“I brought scented candles,” Nick says, clearly thinking the same, or maybe reading Louis’ mind. Sometimes Louis swears that Nick knows exactly what he’s thinking, and it’s equal parts terrifying and terrific.

“As long as the scent isn’t roasted hipster or something,” Louis teases.

“Actually it’s cologne de sweaty popstar,” Nick yells after him.

Louis finds the bedroom on the second try, and it’s… Purple. Purple mat, purple pillows, and a purple blanket. He swallows. “Nick?” He heaves the bag on one of the chairs by the window, and just looks at the room with his hands on his hips.

“Everything okay?” Nick comes in and Pig runs in after him, immediately jumping up on the bed. That actually makes it look better.

“It’s purple.” Louis gestures to the mat. “Everything’s purple.”

“Do you hate purple?” Nick looks confused.

“It’s just…” Louis feels silly now, why does this matter to him? He just wants this to be perfect, and well. “It’s not christmassy,” he says finally, and he can hear himself sound whiny. He cringes internally. What a star boyfriend he is; gone for nine months out of the year, and when he’s there he complains about everything.

But Nick just takes the purple mat, and the pillows, and he shoos Pig from the bed so he can take the blanket too, and then he shoves the purple in one of the closets. “There!” He claps his hands together and smiles hopefully at Louis. “Better?”

“Yeah.” Louis doesn’t know what to say, so he crouches down and calls for Pig, who happily comes to him and licks his face. “Thanks,” Louis manages then.

Nick looks down on him with a fond face. “You’re ridiculous,” he says, but it doesn’t sound admonishing. “Come on, help me put the food in the fridge?”

They’ve brought what’s probably an excessive amount of food for four days, but isn’t that what Christmas is all about? The mundane activity calms Louis down a bit from his sudden rush of nervousness; this is Nick, and they’re NickandLouis, even if they haven’t spent Christmas together before. Or Louis’ birthday.

Sometimes Louis forgets that they haven’t been together all that long, because they’ve been flirting for years – sometimes more innocent than not. When it did happen, it felt like a long time coming, and it didn’t take long to settle into. And that’s a bit scary, sometimes. What if Nick gets bored?

Louis swallows his worry with a saffron bun and washes it down with cold mulled wine. Nick laughs at him.

“You’re going hard for Christmas, then?” He reaches for the bottle. “Let’s heat it up, shall we?”

The living room in the cottage is small. There are two sofas, but both look as if they’re made to fit only one person.

“We’ll have to just look at each other from across the room,” Louis yells as he slumps down on one of the sofas. “These don’t fit both of us.”

“You’re underestimating how close I’m gonna get,” Nick yells back, and the cold liquid in Louis’ stomach seems to warm up very quickly.

While Nick heats the mulled wine, Louis pads off to the bedroom to change. He’s in jeans and he’d like to be a bit more comfortable. He left his Christmas jumper on top of the other clothes, and exchanges his Adidas jacket for that first. There’s reindeer with hearts over their heads on it, and it’s a bit big, the sleeves coming down over his hands. Then he strips out of his jeans, but he doesn’t get a chance to pull his joggers on before Nick calls for him.

“The wine’s ready!” 

Louis shrugs and pads out in boxers, socks, and his jumper. It covers most of his arse, anyway. Nick’s lit the scented candles, too, apparently – the room smells like vanilla and cinnamon.

“Nice,” Nick says when he sees Louis’ bare legs. He gives him a mug of hot wine and leans down to kiss him. “I brought Christmas clothes too, but mine aren’t as cozy.”

“Is it your sexy Santa costume?” Louis quips, kind of hoping that it is. He’s seen Nick in skirts on Instagram, but never in real life, and he’d quite like to. Nick’s legs are ridiculous and amazing.

“You wish,” Nick says, annoyingly accurate. “Nah, just a shirt. Should I get it?”

It’s only December 20th, but Louis nods. “It’s our Christmas, these days,” he justifies it. “Go for it.”

The shirt, as it turns out, is bright green and features a print of otters wearing Santa hats. It’s silk and Nick leaves almost all the buttons open, displaying his chest. If someone had told Louis two years ago that 2015 would see him develop a Thing for chest hair, specifically Nick Grimshaw’s hairy chest, he would have blushed and furiously denied it. As it is now, he just wants to mess it up with frosting and come.

“I thought you said it wasn’t sexy.” Louis waggles his eyebrows, and Nick’s eyes are twinkling again.

“I forgot about your chest hair kink, sorry love,” Nick jokes.

They can actually fit on one sofa; Nick sits with his legs up on the armrest, and Louis sits over his legs, his back resting against the back of the sofa. There’s nowhere to put his mug, so Louis drinks it quickly and then gives it to Nick.

“Is this what this is going to be? Me serving you?” Nick laughs, but he does put the mug on the floor next to his own.

“It is my birthday week,” Louis argues. “Seems pretty fair to me.” He’s got his hand on Nick’s chest, stroking the hair and sometimes pinching his nipples lightly. When he does that, Nick’s hand finds his thigh and squeezes it. Louis has really missed this.

“When you put it that way,” Nick mumbles, his eyes fixed on Louis’ mouth. 

Louis licks his lips, and turns around so he’s straddling Nick, legs on either side of Nick’s hips. He leans forward and gets his mouth close to Nick’s ear.

“Do you realise,” he says lowly, “we’re alone in this cottage? No paps, no family. Just us.” He can feel his own blood rushing faster at the thought of what they could do, and Nick’s hands slide up to his hips, pressing him closer.

And then Pig barks.

Louis starts laughing first, and Nick follows immediately. “Not completely alone,” Louis gets out when he’s calmed down. “Thanks for that, Pig!” He yells.

“Actually, we should walk her before we get caught up in anything,” Nick says reluctantly.

“I’m not putting trousers on,” Louis says immediately. He’s half-hard and he doesn’t much fancy pressing his cock into jeans again to go out in the cold.

Nick huffs a tiny laughter. “You don’t have to,” he says, and kisses Louis quickly on the mouth. “I’ll go, be back soon.”

Louis wants a thousand more kisses, wants to swallow Nick up and keep him inside forever. He nods instead.

“I’ll met you in the not-purple bedroom,” he says and smirks.

Nick swallows. “Sounds good,” he says, and Louis feels his grip tighten again.

When Nick’s found Pig’s leash and gone outside, Louis relocates to the bedroom. The lube is in his toiletry bag, and just the promise of it makes him feel warm when he throws it on the bed. He takes off his boxers and socks, but after a moment of consideration, keeps the jumper on.

It feels more than a bit dirty to already get the sheets filthy. In a rented cottage, no less. Louis doesn’t touch his cock, but lets it stay covered by the jumper when he spreads his legs and clumsily drizzles lube on his fingers. The first touch of it is cold, and the ache in his arm from the uncomfortable position is all too familiar. He’s done this a lot since they started going out, only with his arse up against the webcam for Nick to watch him via Skype. But now Nick will be here soon, and Louis closes his eyes and imagines that it’s Nick inside him, slowly working a finger in. It’s quiet in the cottage, and for a moment Louis realises that this could be the start of a horror movie. He pushes the thought aside and a second finger in. It stretches a bit, but it’s good. The knitted reindeer covering his cock is starting to bulge out obscenely, and Louis can feel himself getting sweaty, the fabric sticking to him.

He’s up to three fingers and panting when his eyes fly open at the sound of the door opening. Nick’s mouth drops open when he sees him, and Louis grins lazily.

“Told you I’d wait for you,” he says, a little breathy.

“Clearly ‘wait’ wasn’t the key word there,” Nick says and unbuttons his jeans at an impressive speed. “Christ.”

“Hurry up,” Louis says, even though he probably doesn’t need to. “Want you inside me. Missed it.”

But when Nick gets on the bed, and Louis wriggles his fingers out of his arse, he doesn’t start fucking him. He puts his hands on Louis’ face and kisses him, opens up his mouth with his tongue, excruciatingly slow. Louis whines into his mouth and puts his hands on Nick’s hips, trying to pull him down, but Nick keeps kissing him. It’s wonderful, always is, but Louis needs something else.

“Sorry,” Nick whispers when he lets up. “Missed that too.”

Louis loves him so fucking much. “I might not be properly open any more,” he says. “You’ll have to check.”

“Oh no,” Nick says sarcastically. “You mean I have to spend more time around your arse? You know there’s nothing I hate more.”

“Fuck you,” Louis laughs at his irony. “Get to it, then.”

Nick opens him up again with more lube, and his long fingers are fucking perfect. Louis is ruining his Christmas jumper, leaking precome all over the inside of it, but he doesn’t care. Nick kisses his hip, just under the hem of the jumper, and crooks his fingers at Louis’ prostate.

“Oh, shit,” Louis grits out. “Come on, get inside me before I come.”

The stretch when Nick finally bottoms out is incredible. Louis closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths. It’s embarrassing how close he is to coming just from being fingered. Then again, maybe it’s a bit from being loved as well. As Nick waits for Louis to adjust, he pulls his jumper up, exposing Louis’ cock to the cold air, and bunches it up by Louis’ armpits so his nipples are out. He leans forward and licks over one, and Louis moans both from that and from the slight movement inside him.

“You can move,” he gets out. “Come on, give it to me.”

Nick laughs against his chest, teeth scraping slightly on the flushed skin. “Eager,” he whispers, but there’s a pant in his voice as well. He bites Louis’ other nipple, causing him to arch his back and whine, and his cock moves inside Louis again. Louis is so full, Nick is everywhere, and everything is warmth and _them_. Nick takes Louis’ hand, and only then does he finally start fucking him. He’s so close that Louis can’t get a hand between them and on his cock, but with how he’s feeling, he doesn’t need it. Nick’s leaning his head down so his mouth is right by Louis’ ear, and the small breaths and noises sound so clear. Louis is making him feel that way. It overwhelms him, all the Nick in his body and soul; Louis closes his eyes and stops thinking. The only thing that exists is their bodies, sticking to each other, creating sounds and warmth and pleasure.

When Louis comes, he comes untouched, and the come smears between their stomachs as Nick keeps thrusting until he comes as well a few seconds later. He falls down on top of Louis, not even pulling out, and exhales. It’s a bit gross. Louis doesn’t want him to move.

“I love you,” Nick mumbles by Louis’ ear. He’s still holding Louis’ hand even though they’re both sweaty and sticky.

“Love you too,” Louis whispers back. He’s still regaining his breath, and Nick is quite heavy slumped over him.

Saying ‘I love you’ was a quick and easy thing for them when they started going out; Louis said it three weeks after they’d agreed to be exclusive, and Nick had said it shortly after. But it has yet to stop feeling special – every time Louis says it, it’s like the feeling multiplies, and the reality of it threatens to make him explode in a million colours. Who knew magic was real in this way? That it can come in mouthy northern radio journalists, and be dressed in silk shirts and wanky boots? Unbelievable. 

“I don’t think I can move anymore today,” Nick groans. “We’ll just live like this now.”

“Yeah, if you stay there you’ll be glued to me with come.”

Nick groans again. “I hope there’s a shower in this place. We’re disgusting.”

“Speak for yourself,” Louis retorts, but Nick’s right. The come is starting to dry between them and it’s not pleasant at all. As Louis comes down from his orgasm high it doesn’t seem as romantic anymore.

There’s a nasty squelching sound when Nick unsticks himself from Louis and pulls out his soft dick. Louis winces. “Should have had some Christmas music on,” he says.

“We’ll do that next time,” Nick promises as he stands up, slightly wobbly. His eyes fall on Louis’ jumper, still bunched up high on his chest, and he laughs. “Your jumper is completely ruined.”

“Calm down, it just needs a wash. Surely there must be a washing machine here,” Louis replies as he sits up and removes said jumper. It really is disgusting, tacky with sweat and a bit of stray come.

“We don’t have any washing powder, though.”

Louis shrugs. “I’ll live.”

As it turns out, the bathroom has a washing machine, and there’s powder in one of the cabinets. Louis throws his jumper in before joining Nick in the shower. He’s too short to shampoo his hair for him, which is annoying, but he makes up for it by soaping the parts of his body he can reach extremely thoroughly. It’s nice to just touch him, feel the watery glide of his skin. They have time, something they’ve always been short on every time they’ve seen each other. It’s luxurious to kiss slowly and not having to consider how many kisses they have left before Louis has to leave. By the time they get out of the shower, their fingers are pruny and they’re both pink all over from the hot water.

Louis smacks Nick’s bum lightly when he turns his back, and Nick turns around with raised eyebrows. “So glad my arse finally got some attention,” he says jokingly.

“Your arse is going to get so much attention this Christmas,” Louis promises, and flushes when he thinks about what he could do.

Since Nick is more experienced in sex with men, he’s taken care of Louis a lot, let Louis lie back and learn what he likes. Louis hasn’t had the chance to do much back. There’s been sloppy but enthusiastic blowjobs and frantic handjobs, and one time Louis watched Nick finger himself open and then fucked him. Louis loves being fucked, though, so he’s sort of let that be the order.

But there’s one thing he’s seen in porn that he hasn’t done yet, and he’d quite like to try it.

“Really?” Nick looks surprised, as if he didn’t think Louis would follow through. “What do you want to do to me, then?”

Louis swallows. He’s going to get hard again if they talk too long about this. “You’ll see,” he says vaguely. “I’m starving, let’s eat.”

And because Nick is a fucking saint, he doesn’t push Louis. He dries his hair and tries to do a towel turban – “if Harry can do this, so can I” – and then they get dressed and eat. Louis finally gets to put his joggers on, and he’s got another knitted jumper (plain red, but it’s still Christmassy, he reckons) and wool socks. Nick is a hipster loser and wears his gym shorts as cozy wear. They eat sat across from each other on the bed, getting breadcrumbs on the already dirty sheets and discussing Christmas music (Nick likes some bitter stuff to balance the usual holiday cheer, whereas Louis is all about Mariah and the cheesy joy). When they go to bed, they’re warm and clean, and very content. They let Pig in and she curls up by their tangled feet. Louis lets himself curl up as well, small and safe in Nick’s arms.

*

They wake up, still close together, to Pig jumping them. 

“All right,” Nick rasps. “We’ll get to you in a minute.”

Louis has heard Nick’s morning voice a lot, on Facetime and Skype when they’ve been in different timezones, but it’s a hundred time hotter when he can feel his breath on his neck when he talks. He doesn’t want to go outside, he wants to stay in and suck Nick’s dick.

Nick groans and presses a gentle kiss to Louis’ neck. “I have to walk Pig,” he says tiredly. “You wanna come?”

The bed is warm and Louis isn’t keen on leaving it, but its main attraction is Nick, and if he’s going, then… Louis could see the nature, he supposes. The sea smell he felt yesterday comes into his mind like a promise.

“Yeah, I’ll go.” Louis stretches his legs out and yawns. “You reckon it’s cold?”

Louis can feel Nick shrug behind him. “I’d say bundle up, just in case.”

They dress themselves in thick jumpers and beanies, and Louis brings out two pairs of mittens.

“You brought mittens for me?” Nick looks surprised.

“Yeah, well.” Louis shrugs. “Didn’t know if you were too cool for them, or something.”

Nick laughs and puts them on, seemingly delighted. 

It is cold outside, and it wakes Louis right up, the chill in the air sharpening his conscience. There’s no snow to speak of, sadly, but everything is coated in glittering frost, including Pig’s nose after she’s gone to smell the ground. There’s a small path leading away from the cottage, and they follow it to the sea. Pig doesn’t seem too impressed with it; she’s more interested in various rocks on the shore, but Louis can’t stop looking at it. It’s a wistful shade of grey, with licks of white at the top of the waves, and looks as brisk as the air feels. Nick removes the leash and lets Pig run free, and takes Louis’ hand instead.

They walk along the sea for a little bit. Nick shouts to Pig whenever she gets too close to the water, but otherwise they don’t talk much. When they get hungry, they turn back, and Nick puts the leash back on Pig. They walk the path back to the cottage hand in hand and something melancholic tugs at Louis.

It’s just that this is perfect, and he wishes this could be their normal instead of a luxury.

For breakfast, they turn on the telly, and Louis gets the Yorkshire tea he brought with him. Nick laughs a bit at him until Louis reminds him that he brought fancy coffee, which shuts him up.

“What do you want to do today?” Nick asks when they’re done eating, spread out over each sofa.

“You,” Louis says and winks.

Nick laughs so loudly that Pig starts barking, and he has to lift her up and shush her. “That’s the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said to me,” he tells Louis with his dog in his lap. He’s wearing a knitted jumper now, too, but it’s black and looks posh. Of course. Still, the image is so sweet, Louis wants to put it in a frame and hang the picture in the safest vault in his mind so he can never lose it.

“You asked.” Louis fake pouts and crosses his arms over his chest. “What’s your suggestion, then?”

“I thought we could build a gingerbread house,” Nick says. “I brought frosting and M&m's and everything.”

Louis has to admit that sounds fun, too.

As it turns out, however, building a gingerbread house isn’t as easy as it looks. Nick’s bought pre-made walls and ceiling – it even came with a little chimney – but making it all stick together at reasonable angles is proving to be a challenge. Louis lets Nick struggle with the hot sugar they’re using as glue and decorates one of the walls with an artfully drawn penis, complete with little drops of frosting coming from the tip. Nick laughs when he sees it.

“You’re incorrigible.”

Louis sticks his tongue out. “You like it.”

Nick grins and shrugs. “What can I say, I’ve always been a sucker for frosting.” He pauses in his movements and lights up. “Get it? Sucker?”

“Oh my God,” Louis half-laughs, half-sighs. “I think even Pig got it.”

They’re playing a Christmas Hits album from Spotify on Nick’s phone. The sound quality isn’t the best, but it’s nice. Louis squirts some frosting onto his finger and puts it in his mouth. Nick feigns shock, and then looks down at the house and sighs.

“I think I give up,” he admits. “Thank God I’m not an architect.”

“Would have been a disaster,” Louis says and aims for Nick’s face as he squirts some more frosting from the tube. Nick opens his mouth and closes his eyes, and when the white sugary goo lands around his lips and on his tongue, Louis feels a bit warm. He swallows the frosting in his mouth before licking around it to get to the rest of it, but he needs a finger to get everything, and he puts two fingers in his mouth and sucks on them with hollowed cheeks.

“You’re indecent,” he tells Nick as he gets up from his chair and walks around the table to Nick’s side. “I should spank you,” he says and sits himself on Nick’s lap.

Nick’s hands find his hips immediately, as though they belong there, before he looks up at Louis and smiles cheekily. “Speaking of spanking,” he starts, “is now the time you’ll tell me what exactly you’re gonna do to me these days?”

Louis makes a small laughing sound, then kisses Nick quickly for courage. “I’ve been watching porn,” he starts. “And this, well, there’s a quite popular thing I’d like to try. I think.”

“I’m intrigued.” Nick sounds soft and encouraging. It reminds Louis of when they’d just started going out, and Nick guided Louis through his first blowjob. Nick is so good to Louis all the time, so good that Louis doesn’t always know what to do with it.

Louis closes his eyes, as if that will make this less embarrassing. “I want to eat you out,” he says quietly. Nick reaction is immediate; his hands tighten their grip, and Louis can feel his head move when he nods quickly. Louis braves opening his eyes; Nick looks at him like it’s his fucking birthday.

“Yes, please.” Nick’s voice is low and breathy and Louis wants him so much.

“Have you ever done it to someone?” Louis needs to know, even if it might not make him feel better to think about the experience Nick has that he lacks.

“Yeah,” Nick says hesitantly. “Why?”

Fuck. What if Louis is shit at it? “Just curious,” he says lightly and squirms a bit on Nick’s lap.

“I haven’t done it much, if that helps.” Nick starts stroking Louis’ sides, and really, how does he know what Louis needs without Louis having to say it? “It’s really intimate, I think, and I haven’t really trusted a lot of people that much.”

Nick trusts him, though. Louis leans down and kisses him again, this time opening his mouth and carefully meeting Nick’s sugary tongue. “I’m honoured,” he murmurs when they pull apart.

“I assume you haven’t-?” Nick doesn’t have to finish; Louis shakes his head.

“I haven’t.” He doesn’t need to say more than that.

“Well then, I’m honoured.” Nick’s hands are still stroking up and down Louis’ sides, and it’s comforting.

Louis feels warm in the face. He tries to recall the videos he’s watched: what did they do to make it so good? Because that’s all he remembers – how loudly the person receiving it moaned, and how some of them came just from that stimulation.

“Do you want to do it now?” Nick sounds unsure, like Louis is fragile. In a way, he is, but he doesn’t want to be.

He nods. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Nick kisses him again, hungrily this time, his hands slipping down to cup Louis’ arse. This, Louis knows how to do, and he relaxes into Nick’s touch. It’s them; it’ll be fine.

“Right,” Nick says quietly when he pulls away. “I should… get ready.”

And, okay, Louis knows what that means, he’s not stupid, and it’s not very attractive. He shouldn’t get excited thinking about it, but his pulse speeds up the tiniest bit. It’s so intimate, what they’re about to do, and that emotional closeness is something Louis craves. He nods quickly.

Nick gives him another short kiss and then Louis reluctantly climbs off his lap. He’s a bit hard, and when he adjusts himself he can see Nick’s eyes following his hand.

“You really want this,” Nick says, voice soft and in awe.

Louis feels his cheeks go pink. How embarrassing. “Yeah, well, so do you.”

That makes Nick laugh, and Louis can’t help but smile with him. The nervousness is bubbling inside of him and needs to get out somehow.

“Got me there,” Nick says.

And he’s off to do whatever it is that you do in preparation to get your ass ate. Louis goes in the bedroom and closes the door in front of Pig’s face. 

“Sorry, love,” he says through the door. He can hear her whine for a couple moments, but then she gives up and he hears her claws clicking against the floor as she walks away. Phew.

Louis doesn’t know if he’s supposed to get naked, but he needs to do something, so he strips down to just his boxers. His cock has softened again, and he’s about to wrap a hand around it when he realises this isn’t about him. He smooths his hand out against his thigh and takes a deep breath. All right. He busies himself with putting on music: _A Very She & Him Christmas_. The music is soft and nice and makes him relax somewhat, and he sits down on the bed and waits.

Nick walks into the room naked, and shrugs when Louis’ eyes widen at the sight. “I didn’t think there was much point to getting dressed,” he explains. His tone is casual, and while he might have fooled someone, Louis can hear the nerves behind it.

“Is there ever?” Louis replies, and when Nick laughs, it becomes easier to breathe.

“Not around you there isn’t, ya filthy animal,” he jokes.

Louis doesn’t bother with a response to that. He taps the bed next to him. “Come here,” he says softly. “Let me do this for you.”

Nick lies back against the pillows and Louis takes the time to kiss him languidly, play with his nipples and smooth his hands all over. He’s warm and a bit damp from the shower, the hair on his chest curling a bit more than usual. Louis moves down his body slowly, stopping to kiss Nick wherever he feels like it. His cock gets a few kitten licks, and Louis watches it harden for him with increasing excitement pumping in his blood. Making Nick feel good is one of the most important things in his life.

Finally, he scoots down so he’s positioned by Nick’s arse. Nick helpfully lifts his hips and puts a pillow under them, to make it easier for Louis to have access.

“We’re going to have to clean everything in this house by the time we leave,” Louis mutters. He’s got his hands on Nick’s thighs.

Nick’s laughter in response is a bit breathless. “It’ll be fine,” he says. “Don’t worry about that now.”

Right. Louis takes another deep breath, then turns his head and kisses Nick’s thigh. He can do this. Nick’s arse does indeed look very clean, for which Louis is thankful. He looks at it for a few seconds, imagines what it’ll feel like against his tongue, and licks his lips.

Pushing his nerves aside, Louis decides to just go for it. He launches forward and tries to make his tongue as broad as possible when it meets with Nick’s sensitive skin. It feels coarse under his tongue, the small ridges of puckered skin unlike any other texture Louis has ever had in his mouth. He feels it out slowly, more to navigate than anything else, but Nick is already letting out a pleased sigh.

“You’re doing so well,” he says quietly. Louis feels like he’s about to burst with love.

The reassurance makes him more confident, and he licks over Nick’s hole again, this time with more purpose. He’s getting wet with saliva. Louis remembers seeing men point their tongues in someone’s arse, so he does the same, aiming for the center. Nick lets out a little whine. Encouraged, Louis keeps his tongue pointed, and moves it in small circles around Nick’s hole, only to then come back to the middle. Nick moans when Louis’ tongue prods at his hole, and Louis feels the sound in his cock, straining against his boxers.

A quick look up tells Louis that Nick isn’t touching his cock, but his hands are grabbing the sheets. His cock is shiny at the tip, though, and Louis wants to lick it clean, but he refrains. Instead he moves his mouth back down to where Nick’s hole is glistening with spit and does what he does when eating out vaginas: he sucks lightly where he knows it’s sensitive. The reaction from Nick is beautiful; he whimpers uncontrollably and shudders. Louis licks over it again, and then he repeats the action. Nick moans loudly and Louis feels his own cock stick to his boxers, the precome leaking out making it wet.

But he wants to know if he can get his tongue inside, so he makes it into a point again, and presses against Nick’s hole. He wriggles his tongue a bit, opening Nick up, and when the tip gets inside, it’s so tight and hot that Louis doesn’t know what to do with himself. Nick doesn’t sound like he’s in control of the sounds spilling out of his mouth, and Louis can’t stop himself from rutting against the bed, desperate for any kind of friction on his cock.

“Please,” Nick breathes out. “Touch me.”

Louis looks up then, and he can feel his face being wet and messy, probably pink. Nick looks equally as debauched, his newly washed hair wildly curly and his breaths trembling. His cock has leaked on his stomach, leaving a little shiny spot. Louis doesn’t waste time: he wraps his hand around Nick’s cock and at the same time puts the other hand between Nick’s legs, a dry finger carefully stroking over his spit-slick hole. He swipes his thumb over the precome, and then it only takes a few strokes for Nick to come, getting come all over his stomach and chest. It makes Louis shudder as well, as if he’s the one who is coming, and he feels a bit like he is. His cock hasn’t even been touched yet.

When Nick regains his breath, Louis gets his own cock out and standing straddled over Nick, wanks himself furiously. It barely takes him a minute and then he’s coming as well, adding to the mess in Nick’s chest hair.

He slumps down next to Nick and tries to remember how to breathe.

“So,” Nick starts after a while. “What did you think?”

Louis laughs, this time not because he’s nervous but because he’s relieved. “Of your arse? 10/10, would eat again.”

Nick shakes his head, smiling, and turns his head so he can look Louis in the eye. “I meant more like, the experience. What you imagined?”

Louis thinks about the porn he’s seen and how none of it can compare to the closeness he feels to Nick right now. “Better,” he settles on. “Much better.”

It might just be Louis projecting, but he swears Nick looks relieved as well. “Good.” He leans forward and kisses Louis on the mouth, unbothered that said mouth was on his arse a minute ago. Then he groans. “I can’t believe I have to shower again.”

“Shush.” Louis puts a finger over Nick’s lips. “You love being a mess.”

He kisses him, because apparently that’s allowed, and when they pull apart Nick says, “your mess.”

“Fucking right,” Louis grins, unable to control his giddiness. “Love you.”

“Love you too.”

When they’ve showered and made some food, they settle down on one of the sofas with Pig. One of the channels is showing the first Harry Potter film, and when Nick confesses he hasn’t seen any of them, Louis screams out loud.

“I take everything back! I can’t love someone who doesn’t know the greatest cultural treasure of our time!” He gestures dramatically with his arms.

“I thought that treasure was One Direction,” Nick jokes, but Louis just shakes his head.

“Shut up and pay attention, your world is about to be rocked.”

“That’s what he said,” Nick mumbles. Louis just glares at him.

When the film is over, Pig is very adamant about going for a walk, so Louis comes with to grill Nick about his opinions.

“Don’t you feel like a new person?” He says gleefully and adjusts his mittens. The sky is clear tonight, so there are stars twinkling down on them.

“I do,” Nick says, grinning. “But that might be because it means so much to you. I feel like I know you better now.”

Louis didn’t know it was possible to be this in love with someone. He slaps him lightly on the bicep. “Stop that,” he says. “Don’t distract me by being all cute. It won’t work.”

“Won’t it? Isn’t there a spell for that?” Pig is running as far ahead of them as the leash will let her, but Nick doesn’t dare let her loose when it’s dark out.

He knows Nick won’t be able to see it in the dark, but that doesn’t stop Louis from rolling his eyes. “No, didn’t you pay attention?”

“Sorry.” Nick reaches his hand – clothed in the mittens Louis brought for him – out for Louis to take. He does. “When are we watching the other ones?”

Louis feels his face burst into smile. “As soon as possible, obviously,” he says.

They walk home in quiet under the stars, hand in hand, the only sound being the frost creaking under their shoes.

*

Louis’ becoming an adult means a lot of things. For one, he knows how to use a washing machine and feed himself. At this time of year, however, it mostly means that he’s at peace with the fact that his birthday gets a bit upstaged by Christmas. He’s okay with it, really.

But still. He’s wondering where in Nick’s bags his birthday present is, and considered what Nick might give him. When it was Nick’s birthday and Louis was on tour, he sent him a fuckton of those flowers that look like birds, and ordered him a record player and vinyl versions of ten albums he knew Nick loved. (There may also have been some extravagant accessories in that night’s Skype sex, but there’s no proof of that.) It was a good gift, but as someone who can buy anything he wants, Louis knows he’s not the easiest person to shop for.

It’s their third day in the cottage now, two sleeps from Louis’ birthday. When Pig wakes them up for the second day in a row, Louis’ first thought is: this could be an everyday life. Nick kisses him on the forehead before he heads out with her, and Louis gets up to make breakfast. For all the fun it is to have relationships in private planes and hotel rooms, the champagne and the jet lag, this feels more exclusive to Louis. The fact that he has time to cut up fruit and make Nick a smoothie, heat porridge on the stove, and that he can do it all in comfortable clothes.

When Nick comes back, Louis is on the sofa and has started eating. “Made you a smoothie, you disgusting fruit-eater,” he greets him.

“Fruit makes your come taste good, ya nerd” is Nick’s retort. Louis finds it hard to argue with that.

Nick puts his mittens on the table and takes the smoothie of the kitchen counter, but he doesn’t taste it until he’s in the sofa opposite from Louis. “Oh, my God. Thank you.”

“No problem.” Louis finds himself smiling ridiculously into his porridge. What, is his new life dream to become a house spouse? Embarrassing. But the happiness that spreads in him when Nick is happy with something he made him is undeniable and it makes Louis ache in a way he can’t quite explain.

They end up spending that day watching Harry Potter, the second, third, and fourth films. By some miracle there’s a cable so Nick can plug his computer into the tv so they can watch it on a bigger screen without being bound to a tv schedule.

Nick keeps asking Louis questions about the world, and how things work. They’re on the same sofa, Louis sitting comfortably leaned against Nick’s chest with his arms around Louis’ waist and his hands on his stomach. The questions are endearing at first, but after a while Louis sighs a little.

“You know you’ll have to read the books at some point, right?”

“Did you read them?!” The shock in Nick’s voice isn’t surprising, but Louis huffs anyway.

“Everyone’s read Harry Potter,” he says indignantly. “Well, not you, apparently, but everyone my age.”

“Hey!” Nick stops stroking Louis’ stomach to pinch his nipple, and Louis squirms a bit. “I’m not old.”

“Didn’t say you were,” Louis retorts, leaning back onto Nick’s chest again. “Just said you’re not my age.”

He can’t actually see him, but Louis knows that Nick is pouting. “You’ll get older in about a day,” he mutters.

“Unless Peter Pan finally comes for me,” Louis adds hopefully. He can feel Nick chuckle under him.

“If you’re worried about mortality you could always pull a Voldemort,” Nick jokes.

Louis gasps. “Have you understood nothing? He kills people, for fuck’s sake.” He shakes his head.

“To be fair, so does Peter Pan.” It’s evident in Nick’s voice that he’s very pleased with this comeback. Louis sighs again.

“I can’t believe you’re comparing Peter Pan to Voldemort.” He throws a hand out dramatically. “I give up!” The theatrical effect is somewhat ruined when he can’t stop himself from giggling.

He just loves this. Some people don’t really get why they work, because they do this all the time, the dramatic bickering. But it’s them. Louis needs that from someone, needs that Nick will talk back to him no matter how small the subject. It might be strange, but that’s how he feels respected and seen. Nick indulges him without submitting to him. It’s validation and challenge at the same time, all in one neat chest-haired package.

“Can you read the books to me?” Nick asks.

The question takes Louis by surprise. “Er. I mean. Yeah?” They’re fairly long books and he doesn’t know when they’ll find the time, but he wants to.

Nick kisses the back of Louis’ head. “That would be so nice,” he murmurs. “Love your voice.”

“You sap,” Louis says, but there’s no bite to it.

Then a dragon appears on screen, and they don’t talk a lot after that (apart from the questions Nick injects when he doesn’t understand something, which Louis responds to patiently).

It’s a very nice day, all in all. They end it with another starry walk with Pig, and the thought about habits pops into Louis’ head again. Being on tour creates habits as well, but they’re extreme and unusual ones. He’d just really like to have this kind of life more often.

*

The next day is more or less a countdown to Louis’ birthday. “Only fourteen hours until my birthday,” Louis says when they wake up. He gets shut up by a sour morning kiss.

“I thought you didn’t want to get old,” Nick teases him.

“Yeah, well, if I have to, I’m at least going to milk the attention it gets me.” Louis shrugs. He feels excited for his birthday in a way he’s not used to; this year’s arrangement actually allows for some kind of birthday extravaganza, albeit in a secluded cottage in Wales.

They have four Harry Potter films left, and when Louis has made breakfast and Nick’s walked Pig, they put on the fifth in the series. Louis finds it hard to concentrate; he’s thinking about what Nick might give him, what kind of birthday sex he should ask for, and if they have any of the good food left.

“That’s the most awkward kiss I’ve ever seen,” Nick snorts when Harry and Cho kiss.

“The straights are truly strange,” Louis deadpans, and the laughter that Nick rewards him with is everything.

He scoots closer, and leans his head on Nick’s shoulder. It hurts his neck a bit, but it’s nice for a few moments. “This is nice,” he says quietly.

Nick’s arm comes up around his shoulder and he feels the warmth of it through his jumper. “Yeah,” Nick agrees. “It is.”

They watch Harry Potter (Nick gets seriously scared at the end of the Half-Blood Prince, with the army of corpses in the cave, and Louis wraps his whole body around him as good as he can to protect him), walk Pig, and eat. The day passes quickly, and they’re about to start the first of the Deathly Hallows films when Louis glances at his phone and it says 00:03.

“It’s after midnight!” Louis shouts, and Pig starts barking to join in. “It’s my birthday now!”

Nick laughs and kisses him, with a hand on his jaw and languid lips. “Happy birthday,” he says quietly. “I’m so glad you were born.”

Louis doesn’t know what to say to that. “Me too,” he settles on, and Nick laughs.

“I have a present for you,” Nick starts, but he makes no sign of moving from the sofa. “It’s a bit– I don’t know, there’s not like, a thing.”

“It’s something but it’s nothing?” Louis frowns.

Nick licks his lips. “I just thought, like, what can I give you that you can’t buy yourself?” Something twists inside Louis, but he keeps quiet and waits for Nick to go on. “And what I settled on was time. My time, specifically.”

He looks a little nervous, so Louis nibbles at his shoulder. “Go on,” he says and strokes Nick’s arm. “Sounds great, but I’m not sure what it means.”

“Oh, right.” Nick laughs a little. “Well, um, I took some time off work. A month, to be exact. In January. So yeah. A month of me, if you want it.” He smiles hesitantly. “Happy birthday?”

A month. Louis gets to be with Nick for a month. A month where they can do whatever they want, without obligations. There’ll be time to read all the Harry Potter books together, even. He yelps in joy, throws his head back and just yells out his feelings, and then kisses Nick fervently.

“Thank you,” he says into Nick’s mouth when he’s calmed down. “Just what I wanted.” He can’t stop smiling but he refuses to move his mouth away from Nick’s.

Nick moves away, though. “Really?” He looks surprised.

Louis nods. “I was just thinking about that, like, these days have been so nice, I’ve been wishing I could have more time.” He breaks out into a grin again. “And you gave me it.” Nick pulls him into a kiss again, and Louis wants that, all the time, but there’s something else he has to add. “I love you,” he murmurs with his forehead resting against Nick’s.

“Good,” Nick whispers back. “Would have been awkward otherwise.”

They giggle into each other’s mouths and kiss some more, while the opening screen of the film is on pause. Louis is in his Christmas jumper, and Nick’s wearing an over-sized Kanye West t-shirt. His collarbones are peeking out of it and Louis bends down to kiss them, and tugs on the neck of it to get more skin. Nick’s hands are on his waist, big and familiar, and Louis wants to be closer to him, inside him, live in him.

“Would you like your other birthday present?” Nick whispers in his ear, and Louis shudders. He shouldn’t find that as hot as he does.

He nods eagerly, and Nick gives him a quick kiss. “You have to let me get up, though, love.”

Reluctantly, Louis stands up on lovedrunk legs. It’s completely gross how gone he is, but he never wants to turn back.

“Come into the bedroom in five minutes.” Nick smirks, and then he’s gone, and Louis scrambles for his phone to count the minutes. They’re the longest five minutes Louis has ever lived through, including the minutes in the waiting room at the dentist. The second they’re up he knocks on the door to the bedroom.

“You can’t come, Piggy,” he tells Pig, who’s at his feet and looking up at him expectantly. “Human adults only, I reckon.”

“Come in,” he hears Nick through the door, and he slinks in quickly before shutting the door in Pig’s face.

And then he turns around.

Nick is on the bed, half-lying against the pillows. There’s a tube of frosting beside him, and on his chest is a poorly drawn frosting heart. Louis is about to laugh, but it catches in his throat when his sweeping gaze gets to Nick’s cock. It’s obscured by red lace, and Louis’ knees almost give out.

“Holy fucking shit,” he whispers.

Nick lets out a nervous, breathy laugh. “Merry birthday,” he says and grins.

Louis can’t get out of his clothes fast enough. When he’s finally free of his boxers, he’s already on the bed, throwing them away over his shoulder. He sits beside him and looks down on Nick’s body, not sure where to start.

“You can do whatever you want,” Nick tells him, which doesn’t help at all. But his mouth waters more at the sight of Nick’s cock peeking out of the tiny underwear – fucking lace! unbelievable – so he licks a stripe over that first. Nick’s half hard, and when Louis mouths at him through the fabric, he gets to feel him fatten up. For Louis. On his birthday.

Nick has started leaking at the tip when Louis moves up his chest to lick away the frosting. The chest hair is coarse under his tongue, but the frosting is sweet, and the combination is weirdly hot. Louis’s own cock feels heavy between his legs, poking at Nick’s hip and twitching when he licks Nick’s nipple and gets a moan in response. He leaves some of the frosting, though, in a mess. He’s got a plan.

“I want to finger you with those on,” he whispers in Nick’s ear. “Okay?”

“Fuck,” Nick breathes out. “Yeah, yeah.”

Louis pointedly ignores Nick’s cock where it’s obscenely peeking out of the lace, hard and pink, and coats his fingers with lube. Nick angles his hips so Louis can reach, and he pulls the underwear to the side with his clean hand. They’re so small that it doesn’t help much, and when he starts circling Nick’s hole, he can feel the lace on his fingers, so much rougher than Nick’s skin and getting messy with slick.

This is a new thing for Louis as well, and he marvels at the feeling of it, how tight and intimate it feels. It’s so sensitive, Louis barely has to crook his fingers for Nick to arch his back and whine. Louis can’t help the big smile forming on his face. He leans forward and licks from the lace-covered base of Nick’s cock to the naked tip, and is rewarded with some salty precome at the end.

“Doesn’t taste like fruit,” he jokes. He gets a slap on his arm for that.

“I swear to God,” Nick grits out.

Louis giggles and gives him another lick, for good measure. Then he starts fingering Nick earnestly, fucking his fingers in and out so the lace burns the side of them. Nick moans and whimpers, and when Louis finds his prostate and presses it relentlessly, he whines uncontrollably and writhes so Louis has to keep him still with a hand on his hip pinning him to the bed. The lace restricting his cock looks a bit painful by now, but both of Louis’ hands are occupied so he lets them be.

“‘m so close, please,” Nick whines breathlessly.

Louis keeps the pressure on his prostate as he leans forward and takes the head of Nick’s cock in his mouth, sucks lightly as he licks over the slit. Nick lets out a high-pitched moan and when Louis feels the first pulse of come, he pulls away his mouth and lets Nick mess up his panties and chest, adding to the frosting Louis left there.

Nick pants as he comes down, trying to regain his breath, and Louis gently pulls his fingers out. He’s so hard he feels ready to burst, and as soon as his right hand is free, he wraps it around himself and groans with how good it feels. He swings his leg over Nick’s hips, so he’s half-standing above him, and wanks himself with some of the slick still on his fingers. The mess he’s about to add to makes it even hotter, and he comes pretty quickly, almost falling over with the force of it. His come splatters over Nick’s chest and stomach, mixing with Nick’s come and the frosting, in a bitter and sugary, salty sweet mess.

Trying to regain his breath, Louis lies down on his side next to Nick, facing him. “Happy birthday to me,” he says jokingly. He can’t resist putting his hand on Nick’s chest, feeling the lukewarm stickiness, and brings it to his mouth to lick it off.

Nick groans. “You’re too much. I can’t get hard again this soon, but I swear to God…”

Louis grins with come and frosting all around his mouth. “You love me,” he says, and then licks around his mouth to get clean.

“I do,” Nick says simply. He smiles a fond smile at Louis with come still sticking to his chest.

“I love you so much,” Louis blurts out. Nick wore lace for him, Christmas red lace, and Louis is so blessed to have him.

“So you like your birthday presents then?” Nick says it a bit jokingly, but Louis knows him well enough to hear when he’s also being serious.

He nods fervently. “I love them,” he says seriously. “So much. They were perfect. Or will be perfect, whatever.”

Nick’s face lights up with a smile, and he puckers his lips for Louis to kiss him. It’s a bit sticky and gross, because Louis didn’t really manage to get that clean, but it’s warm and perfect. Later, when they clean themselves off in the shower together, Nick shampoos Louis’ hair and Louis closes his eyes and thinks about how fucking lucky he is. Nick loves him so much, and Louis has never felt safer in that fact.

It’s not even Christmas yet, but Louis has already got everything he wants.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, happy Louis' birthday to you all :) xx


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